Released as a promotional item by SquareSoft in 1997, the SquareSoft Collector’s Video is a VHS tape that was given away by SquareSoft mainly to promote the English release of Final Fantasy VII.
The VHS tape primarily features Final Fantasy VII, and includes 7 cut scenes from the game as well as a brief history on it’s development. There are also interviews with various members of the creative team at SquareSoft such as Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu.
In addition to the Final Fantasy VII content the tape includes trailers/footage from Final Fantasy Tactics, Saga Frontier, and Bushido Blade.
The video clocks in at around 20 minutes in total. Check out the three vids below to spare yourself the trouble of tracking a copy of the Collector’s Video (and a working VCR).
Similar to the Famicom Box (which is the original Japanese version of the famed Nintendo M82 system), the Super Famicom Box was a device manufactured by Nintendo of Japan in the early nineties for use in hotels. The device originally had a coin mechanism that could be attached to the right-hand side. The machine was created as a pay-to-play system that offered 5 minutes of play for a preset amount of Yen.
Like the Famicom Box before it, and unlike the Nintendo M82, the Super Famicom Box uses specially designed carts. Where-as the original Famicom Box used carts nearly identical to North American NES carts which contained one game per cart, the Super Famicom Box used large carts that held several games. By large I mean very large. The Super Famicom Box carts are nearly 4 times this size of regular Super Famicom games. They resemble a cross between the Japanese Super Game Boys carts, but are closer in size to Neo Geo AVS carts.
The SF Box can hold two carts at one time; as evidenced above, they are quite a bit larger than a regular SFC carts. Picture courtesy of SNES Central.
The Super Famicom Box has the ability to have 2 carts inserted into it at one time. All SF Boxes had a cart that contained Super Mario Collection (All Stars to us), Star Fox, and Super Mario Kart. This cart contained the systems BIOS and was required to power the system on and display the menu.
The main menu seen when the unit powers on.
There are at least two other known variants available for the second cartridge slot. The first is Waialae No Kiseki (Waialae Golf) & Super Mahjong 2 and the other is Super Donkey Kong (DK Country) and Tetris 2 (Super Tetris). The most interesting of these title is the Golf game, as it was never released for the Super Famicom or Super Nintendo, and as such is only playable on the Super Famicom Box. There is an unconfirmed third variation that supposedly contained Super Donkey Kong and Bomberman 2 (Super Bomberman), however none are known to exist.
The machine uses two small barrel keys to lock the front panel. Opening this panel grants you access to the cartridges. The machine also uses a key to turn the system on and off. When locked into the “on” position, power can only be turned off and on by plugging in/unplugging the unit.
The machine connects to a standard TV via either RF or composite (using a standard red/white/yellow RCA cable). There is a selector switch on the back of the unit to toggle between Japanese channels 1 and 2 when using RF.
The Super Famicom Box comes with two hardwired Super Famicom controllers that are stored in a cubby-hole in the front of the unit when not in use. A definite plus when compared to the original Super Famicom console is that the controller cords are extremely long.
The menu screen for Super Mario Kart with the four available options.
Upon powering on the SF Box you are greeted with a menu screen from which you select your game. After you have selected your game, you are brought to a menu sub-screen for each game. This menu provides 4 options. Option 1 starts the game, option 2 provides you with details of the game’s controls, option 3 is kind like a preview mode that lets you watch the game’s intro/title screen. Pushing any button while in this preview mode exits you back to the game’s sub menu. This option was most likely included so you could see what a game was like before actually putting any yen into the machine. The 4th and final option sends you back to the main game select screen.
The preview screen for Super Mario Collection, as noted by the white text overlaid at the top and bottom of the screen.
An added feature specific to the Super Famicom Box is the ability to soft reset anyone of the games while you are playing them. This is accomplished by pressing the L, R, Start, and Select buttons simultaneously. This only sends you back to the games title screen. In order to reset the machine back to the game select menu you must push the “Reset” button on the front of the unit itself.
The screen explaining the soft-reset option. It appears before you start each game.
The Super Famicom Box is among the rarest SFC variations in existence. Although there is no variation between the games available for the system and their commercially released counterparts, the Super Famicom remains a unique curiosity that is popular among hardcore collectors.
That does it for the 12 Days of Famicom! Judging by the site views for December it seems that this experience was astoundingly successful. I would like to thank everyone who followed along and passed the links around, especially Bryan from The Gay Gamer and everyone at the Racket Boy, Famicom World and Retroware TV forums. Make sure you check back next week for my annual ‘year in review’ post! See you then!
Note: The picture of the unit with the carts on top are originally from SNES Central. They have been used here with permission. Special thanks goes to Eric and Matt for the image, as my unit did not come with the keys required to open the front panel.
When you think of Nintendo and the arcade, there’s a good chance the first thing that pops into your head is Donkey Kong. Released in North American arcades in the summer of 1981, Donkey Kong is legendary as not only the first game designed by gaming god Shigaro Miyamoto, but also as the first appearances of the now famous Nintendo characters Donkey Kong and Mario.
Nintendo continued to belt out a string of arcade hits in the early eighties that would cement their name on the forefront of arcade developers. Titles such as Mario Bros., Popeye, PunchOut!!!, and several Donkey Kong sequels made Nintendo a household name amongst arcade enthusiasts and made the company enormous profits.
Nintendo, however had plans to dominate not only the local arcade, but to also take over the living room television set. Nintendo had released simplistic plug and play style consoles in Japan in the 70’s, but wanted a more direct avenue to bring some of their arcade franchises into the home.
With the Nintendo Family Computer, they did just that. 1983 saw the Japanese debut of Nintendo’s first cartridge based home video game console. We would see the same system, albeit drastically redesigned in 1986 as the Nintendo Entertainment System. The NES single handedly saved the video game industry in the mid-eighties and made every single kid salivate with their relentless TV and print ads.
In the mid to late eighties, with the increasing popularity of home consoles and the steady revenue stream they provided, Nintendo was seeking out new ways to snare arcade players into their net. Born of this was the Nintendo PlayChoice 10, an arcade machine on which you could play a selection of games ported directly from their Nintendo home console counterparts.
The PlayChoice games themselves came on small PCB’s, similar to (but not compatible with) the board inside NES cartridges. These PCB were then plugged into the main PCB of the PlayChoice cabinet, thus giving arcade owners the ability to easily change out games. As you may have guessed, the PlayChoice 10 allowed you to choose from 10 different games.
This proved to be a popular machine and an excellent way to advertise games that the player could then purchase for their NES and play without leaving their couch.
Nintendo also created a second, similar arcade hardware configuration they called the Nintendo Vs. System.
What is unique about the Nintendo Vs. PCB is that board could be populated with two individual games at one time. The games came as a set of 5 (4 in some cases) rom chips, a CPU chip common across all the games, and a PPU chip, all of which could be easily plugged into the board and removed when you wanted to change the games featured in the cab. The PPU chip actually contains no essential rom data and instead contains the color palette information. Without using the correct PPU for each games roms, the in-game colors would be randomly assigned making some games unplayable. This was, in-fact an anti-piracy measure designed to keep arcade owners from purchasing burnt roms and installing them into the cabinets. In most cases, the PPU chip is unique to the game with which it was sold, but there are some cases where they are interchangeable. For instance Vs. Super Mario Bros. and Vs. Ice Climber use the same PPU chip and can be used for either rom-set.
Later Vs. games, such as Vs. Dr. Mario and Vs. Atari RBI Baseball used daughter boards to further deter pirates, as these daughter boards were impossible to replicate. The daughter boards were a seperate smaller PCB that plugged into the main Vs. PCB via the CPU and PPU pin-outs. These daughter boards also made it much more difficult to swap PPUs between rom sets . For example; to play Vs. Castlevania without it’s daughter board you need to have one specific Vs. Castlevania chip, a compatible PPU (such as the one from Vs. Ladies Golf) and the daughter board for Vs. Top Gun.
In 1985 Nintendo released the Vs. System in two models; the UniSystem and the DualSystem.
The UniSystem was a single screen arcade cabinet with two 8-way joysticks and four buttons total, 2 per player. As the name implies the main draw of the Vs. titles was the ability to play head to head with a second player, either playing at the same time or alternating turns. The UniSystem was also available as a kit that was used to retro fit older Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong machines.
The VS. Arcade system was also available in a model called the DualSystem. The Dual System was essentially two full sized upright arcade cabinets wedged together at an angle. This version used the same board and chip-sets as the UniSystem, except that the board could be populated with the chips for two separate games. The games could run independently of each other in the same Dual System cabinet, each on their own screen and utilizing their own set of controls.
Games such as Vs. Baseball and Vs. Tennis populated the entire Vs. PCB, allowing for a single 4 player game (such as doubles tennis) to be played on both screens using all four sets of controls at the same time.
The DualSystem was also available in a much smaller cocktail cabinet, referred to most often as the “red tent” because of its recognizable red color and triangular tent-like appearance. Internally, the red tent was exactly the same as the larger DualSystem and like the UniSystem, shared the same PCB.
The cocktail version of the Dual System was had the identical capabilities as it’s much larger relative, including the ability to play the few four player games that utilized both screens.
Nintendo released dozens of games for the Vs. system such as Vs. Super Mario Bros., which was a much harder version of the NES title you know and love. It featured levels directly ported over from the Japan-only Disk System release Super Mario Bros. 2 and factory settings that required 256 coins to get a free man. Another interesting feature was a piece of music that, as far as I know, was never used in any other Mario game. The music can be heard during the screen in which you enter your name after you’ve achieved a high score (see video below of the music I recorded off of my cab).
Other notable games include Vs. Gradius, Vs. Ice Climber, Vs. Dr. Mario, Vs. Castlevania and Vs. Goonies. In fact, it is the Vs. Goonies arcade game that spawned the NES sequel The Goonies 2. This explains why there was no part 1 of The Goonies released for the NES; it was arcade only in North America.
The Versus arcade system remains a relatively unknown footnote in Nintendo’s storied history, but stands as yet another example of how Nintendo’s fierce marketing during the NES era provided the company with a tight strangle hold on the video game industry. The Versus red tent in particular is a collectible piece in itself with its distinct design and large and varied library of available titles.
* photos of the Donkey Kong cabinet and the table top PlayChoice 10 from the Killer List of Video Games (www.klov.com)
I stumpled upon this site during my internet travels and was absolutely floored by this guy’s collection- all of it Famicom, most of it pirates.
This guy has a pretty stellar collection of games, and I really like the simple, no bullshit way he presents it on his site. I highly recommend you click over there and take a look. Below are a few that stood out to me as being particularly cool.
That cart is shaped kind of funny… almost as if it’s a Famicom cartridge. That would be impossible, right?
Wrong. Those lunatics over at Shenzhen Nanjing Technology Co. Ltd. have struck yet again, this time tackling another beloved Square RPG. This time it’s the ultra classic Super NES time travel epic Chrono Trigger.
Is nothing sacred? Will they ever learn? Why is this so awesome?
The sheer fact that this exists is a huge leap forward for the human race as a whole. Most of the original game has been recreated faithfully here. Sure the battle system is of the  random encounter variety and the game mechanics as a whole are pretty clunky, and the music is off by a couple million fathoms, but they seriously had me at the title screen.
In the late 80’s and early nineties, Konami had a knack for turning its licenses into monster arcade hits. Following in the footsteps of such coin-op pay-dirt as Aliens and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Simpsons was yet another example of Konami’s knack for translating licensed properties into pure pixilated wonderment.
Taking many cues from (and, in fact, utilizing the same game engine as) Konami’s hugely successful Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles machine, The Simpsons was a Final Fight inspired side-scrolling beat ‘em up that hit arcades at just the right time when the genre was at it’s peak of popularity and The Simpsons themselves where riding their first wave of fame.
Released to coincide with the end of the second season of The Simpsons in 1991, the arcade game put you in the shoes of one of four members of the Simpson clan; Homer, Bart, Marge, or Lisa. With your character selected, if are free to begin kicking Krusty imitators, punching zombies, and skateboarding faces through familiar Springfield locals on the trail of Waylon Smithers who, after a pacifier/priceless diamond mix-up, kidnaps Maggie Simpson. Yeah, the story’s thin, but no thinner than modern day Simpsons episodes, and what it lacked in story in most certainly made up in game-play and gorgeous visuals.
The goon smashing game-play begins in downtown Springfield, continues through 8 lavishly detailed and brightly colored levels, including Krustyland, Springfield Discount Cemetery, Moe’s tavern, Springfield Butte, a nightmarishly surreal dream level, behind the scenes at Channel 6’s studios, and a final boss fight at the Nuclear Plant.
Much like TMNT, the game was released in two variations of four-player cabinets and was also available as a two-player conversion kit.
Each of the four selectable characters has their own weapon, reflecting their character within the early canon of the show. Homer, true to his ape-like intelligence, uses his bare fists, Bart smashes skulls with his skateboard, Marge uses an upright electric vacuum cleaner, and Lisa brandishes her skipping rope like a whip.
At first glance the game could be written off simply as a Final Fight clone, but Konami added several elements that helped it rise above the glut of beat ‘em ups that flooded the arcades at the time. It employed a team-up system where you could join forces with a fellow Simpson family member and combine to do a unique double attack. The type of attack varies depending on which characters join together, such as the Bart/Homer piggyback attack or the Homer/Marge human Ferris wheel.
As great as the game-play in The Simpsons is, it pales in comparison to the game’s greatest achievement, which is its attention to detail. Although the game may seems barren of recognizable references nowadays, it is none-the-less stuffed full of sight gags and visual nods to the first two seasons, and even include cameo’s by the rabbits from Simpson creator Matt Groening’s (somewhat forgotten) Life In Hell comics.
The graphics of The Simpsons hold up remarkably well, even when revisited today. The game features fully animated, vibrantly colored backgrounds, and detailed sprite animation. Its as close to playing a Simpsons cartoon that we would ever get.
Sadly, unlike the TMNT arcade games, The Simpsons arcade never made it to the home console, thanks to rival publisher Acclaim possessing the exclusive console publishing rights to the franchise, and as we are all well aware, they used this to shovel us such garbage as Bart vs. the Space Mutants and Virtual Bart.
If you ask any group of people what their 5 favorite arcade machines are, it’s a pretty good chance you’ll see at least half with ‘The Simspsons’ on their list, and with good reason- it’s an amazing experience that sticks with you long after the quarters run out.
Part Ys and part The Legend of Zelda, Crystalis is a top down action RPG that bests the early Ys titles in the game-play department and runs circles around the original Nintendo Zelda games when it comes to plot.
Think of Crystalis as the game that should have been The Legend of Zelda 2. It takes the basic concepts founded in the original Zelda title and mixes in the quick and frantic combat system of Ys: The Vanished Omens (SMS) and creates an original, addictive, and masterfully designed adventure. For a Nintendo Entertainment System game there is an astonishing amount of NPC interaction and dialogue as well as a fast paced story that keeps you playing just to see what happens next. Continue reading “Review: Crystalis (NES)”→
Another excellent find for the collection over the weekend! I pIcked up a copy of Mega Man V for the original Game Boy. The cart is in absolutely perfect condition as is the label, and as a double bonus the manual was also included, also in in perfect condition. If you have been following Game Boy stuff at all in the past year, you’ll know that it is becoming highly collectable and the prices are rising. Mega Man V, for instance, commonly goes for between $60 and $80 loose. The price I paid? $9.95 plus taxes at a local thrift store. A pretty good deal, I would say.
An interesting factoid about Mega Man V of the Game Boy; it was the last Mega Man game (until Mega Man 9, that is) to use the classic Mega Man sprite that debuted in the original Mega Man for the NES. It is also supposed to be one of the best Mega Man games of all time, but I haven’t really had a chance to get into it that much yet.
I have a bunch of updates coming this week after I kind of took last week easy, so check back.
I have decided to try and focus my video game collecting, and save for any good deals or ‘can’t pass up’ types of situations, try and collect games in a pre-determined theme. I am already slowly working on a CIB Zelda set, but I haven’t really gone out of my way and concentrated 100% on it as of yet, it’s more been a passive goal where-in I picked up any CIB Zelda games that I happened to come across.
I have decided to start on something a little easier and less wallet killing. I am going to get my fifteen favorite NES games CIB. This should be a fun adventure, and I am really looking forward to beginning. Continue reading “Chasing Carts: NES Top 15 CIB”→
Hey! I recently became a staff member over at Sega-16.com. Just incase you live under a rock, Sega-16 is the greatest online resource for the 16 bit era of the once mighty Sega. The site includes tons of info on the Genesis, 32x, and Sega CD, such as interviews, articles, a forum, and reviews. Speaking of reviews, my debut review is up on the main page right now. It’s an exacting vivisection of TradeWest’s Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls. Check out the review here.
Video Games are Rad 
